A Small Lesson in Native Fashion
by yoru no ame
Summary: Fai teaches Kurogane the proper way to wear his newly aquired clothing. A short fic featuring a bit of introspective contemplation, some banter, and a touch of sexual tension. Set relatively early in the series, spoiler free. KuroxFai


Although his eyes were closed, Kurogane knew the man stretched out in the middle of the structure – it could hardly be called a building since it lacked permanent walls on all sides – was not asleep. In all their time traveling worlds, he had never seen Fai sleep laying face up. "That's all you're going to wear?"

He had also never seen the guy wear so little. Fai seemed to place some sort of importance on the image his clothes would project to others, with the end result being that he usually chose proper, if not somewhat elaborate outfits. Kurogane thought some of the words the skinny guy wanted to instill with his choice of clothing were those like "refined" and "sophisticated." "Unreachable" was a better description of the man but that was entirely of Kurogane's opinion, and had to do with far more than just clothes.

Apparently, the pattern was not going to hold on this world. "It's too hot here."

For Kurogane, if the garments were serviceable, the main objective was fulfilled. Still, there was always such a thing as prudence – even when it came to clothing. "We've been to worlds with worse weather than this."

"Mmmm, but this _is_ the traditional garb." The plain cloth strip wrapped between the legs before looping around a belt in front and back so that the free ends dangled down to mid-thigh on each side. And right now, that was all the clothing Fai was wearing. From a side view, the entire expanse of his skin was only interrupted by the narrow belt. And while it was true that this was traditional – Kurogane wore one himself – they had bought additional pieces to go with it.

"There's more to it than just that."

"I saw men omit pieces of the full outfit. You saw it too."

"That doesn't mean you have to emulate."

"Is Kuro-mu worried about me attracting too much attention?" The guy hadn't opened his eyes yet, but he was grinning like a maniac.

"Feh." He wasn't going to admit to that. Not. Ever. Luckily, he had other reasons as well. "That pale skin of yours is going to burn if you don't cover it." Kurogane could imagine… no. No. He was not thinking about all that exposed skin. Not in any way, shape, or form.

"Then maybe I'll just stay here in the shade."

That could solve two problems, but he opted for a safer response. "Lazy bum. The more people we have looking, the faster we find the feather and the faster we're on to a different world. That's the best way to escape the heat."

Fai didn't argue the point, but it didn't change his mind either. For the first time, he opened his eyes and moved his head to address the man standing on the other side of the shelter.

"So you're going to wear the leggings then."

"Damn right I am." He leaned down then, finished the last few buttons on his navy leggings – Fai claimed they only came in red and navy, something about a trade agreement that he hadn't paid much attention to the explanation of – and began the final touch to the garment.

"Ah, Kuro-sama. You're tying those garters all wrong."

It mattered how it was tied? "They'll stay up this way."

"But the man I bought them from showed me how I should tie them. He was very specific. I think there is some significance to it. We don't want to give people the wrong idea, now do we?"

Well, he did know something about that kind of thing. Clothing in Nihon was that way. "Fine. How am I supposed to tie them?"

He awaited instructions but the damn idiot only motioned to be handed the items.

"I can dress myself."

There was no verbal reply, merely the reaching hands. Sometimes it just wasn't worth the energy required to argue. With a sigh, he moved across the shelter to hand one of the woven articles down to his impromptu teacher and took an extra half step forward to present his left leg. He was fairly certain that the man would be able to see the under layer of his clothes if he decided he wanted to look. He crossed his arms as if to prove a point and put on his standard gruff expression for good measure.

With a minimum of movement, only moving his arms, Fai began the wrapping process. "They go right below the knee, like this." It was a relatively simple knot, easier than tying an obi, but Fai took his time, moved slowly – maybe it was the heat.

When the knot was done, and the tails hanging just so in the front, Fai slid his hand under the garter to smooth the fabric beneath. And this, Kurogane reflected, he definitely did with too much care. The man's whole hand was pressed flush to his calf and the motion of smoothing the fabric felt suspiciously like Fai was caressing his leg. His imagination, that.

His heart rate picked up just a bit and he had to remind himself that Fai was only adjusting his legging, was only ensuring that he would fit in with this world as best as possible. The thought occurred to him then, that maybe Fai was only imitating something that the trader he had bought the garments from had shown him. Down to the last detail. He was not much pleased at that idea.

When Fai deemed the first leg ready, he extended his arm again – indicated that he was ready for the second garter. Kurogane had paid careful attention. He was sure that he could copy the procedure on his other leg, but looking down to the man below, watching those strong, slender fingers of his, Kurogane decided that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to let him place the second garter as well.

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Notes: I've decided I need to start posting more of my writing so I pulled this one out of my archive for you. From the file properties, it looks like I started it back in February. Ehehe. FYI, the influence for the culture referenced here is the Seminoles, a tribe of Native Americans originating from Florida. Much of my knowledge comes from the articles on the nativetech dot org website. It's a great resource for anyone interested in creating certain historically accurate Native American garments.


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